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EVE Evolved: Has EVE Online boxed itself in?
When I was first introduced to EVE Online in 2004, it was an empty shell of a game. There were only three classes of ship, no alliances or starbases, and neither exploration complexes nor level 4 missions existed yet. EVE consisted of 5,000 systems of almost completely empty space populated by less than 50,000 players. The user interface was an order of magnitude worse than it is today (if you can imagine that), and the tutorial just dropped you in the middle of space with the ship equivalent of a pea shooter and a less-than-enthusiastic "good luck!" Though much of the game was empty, it sat before players like a blank galactic canvas. Not only could players paint their own stories into the game world, but EVE's highly active development team was updating the game at lightning speed. Players instinctively filled the voids in the game with their hopes and dreams, projecting all the things that EVE could be into the gaps. People shared ideas on the forum directly with the developers, and practically anything was possible. Things aren't quite the same today, as new ideas have to be compatible with over nine years' worth of updates, and developer CCP Games really can't afford to rock the boat and potentially lose subscriptions. In this week's EVE Evolved, I consider whether the past nine years of development has boxed EVE in, forcing the gameplay down an ever-narrowing branch of choices.
Darksiders 2 'The Crucible' mode footage is a test of courage
This video for Darksiders 2 shows off the game's flashy combat in its arena mode. Known as "The Crucible," the mode has players beating down waves of enemies until offered a random prize. Darksiders 2 arrives at retail, ready for battle on August 14 for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
EVE Evolved: Adapt or die
When EVE Online was first released in 2003, it sold mostly based on its future potential. Everyone I played with in those early years got into EVE in order to be on the ground floor of an awesome space game that was getting more awesome by the month. Features were undergoing continual revision, and new content was released regularly, making EVE a radically different game every six months. Players met this design strategy of continual iteration head on with an "adapt or die" attitude, and it kept the game interesting for years on end. Fast-forward to 2011 and the story looked very different. The Dominion, Tyrannis and Incursion expansions introduced new gameplay but didn't heavily iterate on any other features. By the time Incarna released, most of EVE's gameplay and content had been the same for two years and players had nothing new to adapt to. For the Crucible and Inferno expansions, CCP finally iterated on hundreds of small features and even introduced new modules to reboot EVE's "adapt or die" PvP ship design metagame. With a lot of the small things now covered, I think some of the game's big features are due for iteration. In this week's EVE Evolved opinion piece, I look at how EVE players adapt to new challenges and explore several areas of stale gameplay that are in dire need of iteration.
EVE Evolved: Four things MMOs can learn from EVE
New MMOs are released every year, and we often see them repeating the same mistakes as previous games or releasing without tried-and-tested mechanics. It just seems like common sense to learn from the years of mistakes and successes of other companies and previous titles, but it isn't always clear how to apply game mechanics or lessons from dissimilar types of game. EVE Online is as dissimilar from the typical MMO as you can get, but there are lessons to be learned from its turbulent nine-year history that can be applied to all MMO development. EVE has helped prove that you can start small and grow rather than raking in huge launch sales and then fading away. The past year has also shown conclusively that iteration on existing features can trump big expansions. EVE's market system and single-shard server have both been commended countless times over the game's nine-year history, and yet in all that time, few games have tried to replicate those features. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at four lessons learned from EVE Online that could easily be applied to other MMOs.
EVE Evolved: The great ship overhaul
One of EVE Online's most important features is that the game is constantly updated to avoid falling behind the development curve and being overtaken by new titles. The EVE we have today bears little resemblance to the primitive sandbox released in 2003 thanks to major graphical overhauls every few years and iteration on gameplay systems. I think that's a big part of why people start playing EVE; they know that the game will still be alive and kicking years from now and will look as good as anything else on the market. EVE remained largely unchanged from March 2009's Apocrypha expansion until Crucible at the end of 2011, but since then, CCP has made huge leaps in iterating on ship graphics and gameplay. This week we saw an impressive new video of the revamped Drake model, and CCP announced details of a complete mining barge and frigate revamp due to hit the servers before this year's winter expansion. These changes seem set to put a sizeable dent in EVE's notoriously steep learning curve. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the recent graphical updates to EVE's ships and explore the upcoming ship overhauls in more detail.
Wings Over Atreia: Drowning in dailies
Two weeks ago, in the midst of supplying Daevas below max level a list of things to do (which I am so glad many of you found helpful!), I mentioned daily quests. Since then, you've been asked about your opinions on repeatable quests, including daily ones; even the Massively staff members chimed in with their thoughts. Love 'em or leave 'em, daily quests are a pretty abundant in Aion. Abundant -- that's almost an understatement. I was not kidding when I said we're drowning in dailies; there are just so many dailies sprinkled throughout Atreia now that it's crazy! Heck, I almost went insane just trying to hit them all up these past couple of weeks. No one can accuse Aion's system of being a minuscule afterthought with all of the various quests and rewards available for all levels. But with so many other things to do besides daily quests, you might find it easy to miss out on them even if you really want to do them. We can't have that! So here is a quick(ish) reference guide to all of the types of daily quests... assuming the devs don't sneak more in on me that I haven't even found!
EVE Evolved: EVE Online's top selling points
At E3 this year, EVE Online developer CCP Games said it wants the game to still be running decades from now, continuing its usual trend of steady growth. EVE has barely grown in subscriptions over the past year, and average concurrent logins have flatlined since 2010, but the Crucible and Inferno expansions helped start turning things around. Developers hope to get growth back on track and attract new people to the world of New Eden, but I have to wonder whether they're selling EVE to new people in the right way. EVE has always spread through word of mouth, with people being brought in by friends or starting fresh after hearing an epic story of in-game events or seeing an awesome video. More recently, existing online communities have been drawn to set up shop in the game and bring hundreds or thousands of members with them. People brought in by friends and people who join organisations in-game are more likely to stay in the game long-term, and it's this angle that I think CCP really needs to push. With its single-shard universe, awesome community, and massive scale PvP, EVE has some pretty huge selling points that no other MMO can match. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at a few of EVE's biggest selling points and how CCP could use them to attract new players.
EVE Evolved: Nine years of EVE Online
Last week I celebrated the fourth anniversary of the EVE Evolved column with a competition to win one of two 30-day pilot's licenses. Congratulations to winners Dong Yi and Atrameides Denard, whose prizes have been contracted in-game. Today EVE Online itself turns nine years old, and so this week's EVE Evolved column takes a look back at the top EVE stories of the year. It's been a rollercoaster of a year for CCP, with the infamous monoclegate scandal hitting subscriptions hard during the summer and only recently starting to recover. The drama kicked off as the much-touted Incarna expansion drew close and CCP revealed that it would contain no multiplayer elements and would introduce a microtransaction store for vanity items. Players didn't seem to mind the cash shop as long as it contained only vanity items, and CCP had previously promised that microtransactions would be limited to those types of items. When the Incarna expansion finally launched and players got a first-hand look at the cash shop, however, it became apparent that something was fundamentally wrong. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the top EVE stories of the year, from the incredible videos and scams to the story of how CCP brought EVE Online back from the brink of disaster.
EVE Evolved: Four years of EVE Evolved
On April 27th, 2008, I joined the Massively crew and published the first edition of a new weekly column dedicated to the world of EVE Online. It's hard to believe that the EVE Evolved column is now four years old, spanning nine major expansions and predating CCP Games' transformation into an industry giant with three games in development. Since the column's first crude scribbling about shuttles, I've written over 200 in-depth articles, guides, stories, and opinion pieces. With its free expansions and iterative updates, EVE is a rapidly changing game that provides a constant supply of things to write about. To celebrate the fourth anniversary of the column, I'm giving away two 30-day Pilot's License EXtensions to two lucky readers. To enter the competition, leave a comment stating which EVE Evolved article from this year is your favourite, and why it's your favorite, and what topic you'd like to see covered in the coming year. You will need an active EVE account to claim the prize, so be sure to include a character name with your comment if you want to be able to win a prize. If you're not comfortable with giving out your character name, use an alternate character or sign up a new trial account. The winners' names will be revealed in next week's column. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at some of the highlights from the column's fourth year.
EVE Online fixes boomerang exploit
Pilots looking to duck the long arm of the law in high-security space will need to find another way to perform their nefarious deeds, as EVE Online released a patch today fixing the so-called "boomerang exploit." CCP considered it an official and actionable game exploit to avoid CONCORD retaliation in high-security space by attacking a target right after the aggressor warps away or within the same grid in which the player earned a Global Criminal Countdown. Those who used the exploit prior to the fix could have found themselves dealing with a much scarier force than CONCORD: game masters themselves. Now, any player with a GCC will simply be unable to warp away. Other than keeping boomerangs in the hands of kangaroos where they belong, Crucible patch 1.6.3 contains a few localization fixes, the ability to add a station as a waypoint or destination through the API, and some pesky client crashing issues.
EVE Evolved: New info from Fanfest 2012
The annual EVE Online Fanfest is starting to become a major event in the gaming calendar, thanks to CCP's partnership with Sony and the addition of DUST 514 and World of Darkness talks to the event schedule. This year, CCP flew gaming journalists to the event to give the press hands-on time with DUST and demonstrate the game's impressive realtime integration with EVE Online. Massively, unfortunately, is not permitted to accept such travel stipends, which meant that we couldn't produce in-depth coverage and interviews as we did last year, so instead we've pieced together information from the talks that were streamed to viewers at home. The theme of this year's Fanfest was unmistakably DUST 514 and its integration with EVE Online. Attendees got first-hand experience with DUST 514 and a free pass to enter the beta in April. There was even a live demonstration of the EVE-DUST link during which a battleship delivered an air strike directly into a DUST match in realtime. There were several talks on EVE's upcoming Inferno expansion and its PvP revamp, with details of new modules and gameplay designed to shake up the PvP landscape for the first time in several years. Players report leaving Fanfest this year with a very real sense that CCP is back on track and recovering from the aftermath of Monoclegate. In this week's colossal EVE Evolved, I piece together some of the information from EVE Fanfest 2012 and consider what it means for EVE players.
EVE's Inferno expansion launches May 22nd, precursor patch April 24th
EVE Online aims to revamp PvP in its upcoming Inferno expansion. In addition to continuing the good work that started with Crucible, Inferno will revamp the wardec system, iterate on faction warfare, and introduce new ships and modules for players to smash to pieces. It sounds like the perfect PvP expansion, and today at the EVE Fanfest, CCP revealed some firm details of exactly what the wardec and faction warfare revamps will entail. A new wardec interface will make wars easier to follow; loopholes like the wardec shield used by EVE University will be closed; and a new mercenary marketplace will be introduced. Faction warfare system ownership will be given more consequences, such as making it impossible for enemy militias to dock in the system. During the EVE Keynote speech today, CCP announced that Inferno will be hitting on May 22nd and that it will be CCP's first ever expansion preceded by a precursor patch. CCP intends to introduce new content with the patch that will prepare the way for the main expansion, but exactly what form that preparation will take has been kept a secret.
EVE's Crucible 1.5 patch hits tomorrow, brings new launcher
As part of CCP's refocusing on EVE Online, the studio announced that work had begun on a new game launcher last November. Players with an out-of-date client currently receive a patch popup on logging in that requires the client to be restarted, and frequent optional patches to fix non-critical issues can force you to restart the client several times. The new patcher brings EVE up to the industry standard for MMO clients, pre-loading the game in the background and announcing when it's ready to launch. The new launcher will go live tomorrow with the Crucible 1.5 update, but it's not the only thing getting some much-needed attention in the patch. All of the rookie ships have been visually revamped, three new 2/10 DED complexes have been added for newer highsec explorers, and the overview will now be more responsive. The patch also brings a whole host of user interface changes and bug fixes.
EVE Evolved: Setting the universe on fire
This week CCP Games announced the name and focus of EVE Online's upcoming summer expansion. The Inferno expansion aims to re-invigorate PvP with some long overdue gameplay changes. CONCORD-sanctioned wars will be iterated on for the first time in half a decade, and faction warfare will hopefully be getting the updates it should have received in 2008. Following on from the success of the Crucible expansion with its hundreds of small features and gameplay changes, Inferno will also contain dozens of small gameplay changes, usability fixes, and minor improvements. We'll hear more about DUST 514 in the coming months as CCP reveals more concrete details of the game's link to EVE Online and the motivations behind planet-bound wars. Incarna fans will apparently also see some movement, with Team Avatar focusing on avatar-based updates for this release. While Inferno is a rather uninspired name and coincidentally would make three of the last four expansions start with the word "in," the expansion's content is genuinely exciting. Fundamental changes are coming to EVE's PvP mechanics for the first time in several years. CCP hasn't revealed the exact changes, but that hasn't stopped players from speculating on what might be heading their way. In this week's EVE Evolved, I speculate on the changes coming in the upcoming Inferno expansion and what changes I think might be coming to EVE's PvP.
Aion's Rallying the Troops event begins Feb 27th
If the recent news about Aion's upcoming conversion to free-to-play has sparked your interest or you had left previously but want to pop back in for a little look-see, NCsoft is offering the perfect opportunity to do just that! Starting February 27th, Rallying the Troops will allow Daevas and Daevas-to-be to jump into the stunning world of Atreia for free, getting a head start on preparing for the much anticipated 3.0 patch, Ascension. Each player, whether new, returning, or currently subscribed, will receive bonuses during that time, including double XP, a 30% boost in AP, and crucible insignias. New recruits need only make an account to begin playing a free extended trial. Returning veterans will play for free through March 12th. All those currently serving, along with the returning veterans, will benefit from more medals and relic loot drops from fortresses. As an added incentive, everyone who subscribes by March 12th will receive a free set of Daevanion armor. If you have ever had the desire to check Aion out, there is no time like the present... starting Monday, of course.
EVE Evolved: How to fit the Enyo and Ishkur
When tech 2 ships were first introduced to EVE Online, the first models off the production line were interceptors and assault ships. Interceptors served as agile tacklers with unmatched speed and maneuverability, while assault ships provided a slower but tankier option. Each race's assault ship had a bonus to its racial resistances, making it an incredible tank against certain damage types. This made it great for ninja-ratting in nullsec or tackling larger ships of a particular race. When subsequently released ships were also given this racial resistance bonus, the assault frigate lost part of what made it so useful. Players have begged for an assault ship buff for years, and in Crucible, it finally arrived. The Gallente Ishkur and Enyo have always been capable PvE ships for speed-running low-level missions or ninja-ratting in nullsec, but with Crucible, they've become absolute monsters in both PvE and PvP. With the maneuverability and signature radius of a frigate but more tank and damage output than a tech 1 cruiser, both ships are incredibly fun to fly. Drone users will probably prefer the Ishkur, but the Enyo's raw damage output and buffer tank are truly terrifying. In this week's EVE Evolved, I offer PvE and PvP setups for the Gallente Ishkur and Enyo to help you get the most out of these incredible revamped ships.
Wings Over Atreia: F2P and vet rewards and bears, oh my!
OK, so maybe there aren't really any bears. Wait, I take that back -- there are maybe sorta bears... at least alluded to! Polar bears, to be exact. No really, work with me here: What Winter Festival, Atreian or otherwise, doesn't conjure up images of polar bears? We just won't get into the whole dancing bears thing. What we will get into this week in Wings Over Atreia, however, are musings about a few topics of interest that are swirling around lately, most notably Aion's upcoming conversion to free-to-play in Europe, the changes to the veteran reward system, and the aforementioned Winter Festival (sans dancing bears). Quick quiz now: Other than involving Aion, what else do these three subjects have in common? Give up? Time. While this column usually delves into single topics at a time, the fact that two of these are time-sensitive necessitates that they share face-time, else the news most relevant to Daevas would become obsolete. The third is less time-sensitive but more time-relevant.
From hero to 0.0: EVE Online deploys Crucible 1.1 update
It may not be a full-blown expansion, but don't let the decimal point throw you off: EVE Online Crucible's 1.1 patch is a beast of an update, and it's roaring onto the live server today. Crucible 1.1 "enhances and updates" many of the key features of the game, starting with a customizable NeoCom (user interface) that can be tweaked to the player's desire. The update also contains adjustments to Tech 2 modules, balances to blaster ammo, and the ability for alliances to enter into factional warfare. As a result of a significant change to how player-owned structures use legacy fuel -- as in, they won't any longer, but they will be switching over to fuel blocks -- CCP is urging customers to pay attention lest they log in and find themselves in the dark. You can get the full skinny on the update by either reading the full patch notes, reading through the list of major features, or listening to the grizzled voice of CCP Soundwave going over the 1.1 highlights after the jump.
EVE Evolved: Music to watch the stars by
EVE Online received some big graphical overhauls with the recent Crucible expansion, and every ship will have its graphics iterated on in future patches as part of with the ongoing V3 project. A great deal of time and money is poured into keeping EVE's graphics at the bleeding edge of the industry, and yet the game's music has barely changed since launch in 2003. Warped ambient compositions like Red Glowing Dust gave a feeling of depth and scale to early EVE's empty universe, and the electronic beats of tracks like Below the Asteroids and Merchants, Looters and Ghosts have become iconic sounds of EVE. The music still manages to impress new players, but with so much of EVE being overhauled, I think it's time to give the music another look. Very few game studios pay as much attention to music as to graphics, the user interface, or gameplay, but the right music has the power to completely transform a player's experience. Just like in a movie, music can evoke an emotional response and so alter a person's perception of events. Fighting monsters in a fantasy MMO or shooting down pirates in EVE might not be a terribly epic activity, but throw in some epic music and suddenly it feels a lot more real. I wrote about the psychological effect of music in MMOs several years ago, and the topic is as relevant today as it was then. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at three different types of music that could improve EVE and suggest how CCP could take advantage of each type to give EVE the soundtrack it deserves.
EVE Online reveals full Crucible 1.1 patch feature list
The feature page for EVE Online's next major patch Crucible 1.1 has gone live, with a comprehensive list of the features we can expect when it's released on Tuesday January 24th. As the patch has probably now entered feature lockdown, the feature page is now a complete listing of the updates we can expect. The patch finalises the changeover of player owned starbases to the convenient new fuel block system, and the six changes revealed in Team BFF's last devblog will also be going into effect. The neocom will receive its big update with the patch, but the two biggest changes are issues that players have begged CCP to address since 2008. Tech 2 assault frigates are finally being rebalanced to bring them in line with other ships, and alliances will now be able to sign up for faction warfare. Other big changes include a boost to all sizes of Null blaster ammo and the release of new deadspace invulnerability fields for shield users. Head over to the official Crucible 1.1 feature page for a full list of changes. [Thanks to Knoodlepot for the tip!]
